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Re: The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan
^ I agree with your criticisms - he should have had a better editor who simply took a red pen and crossed out 90% of his annoying overdone character traits and it would have improved the story immensely!

Also the story is far more enjoyable when not being read from Rand's POV.

Having said that there is a lot to enjoy.

In the fantasy family tree, you don't go straight from Tolkien to George RR Martin, you go via Robert Jordan. The epic scale of his story, the political intrigues, the world building are all to be admired.
May 10, 2011, 06:32:19 AM

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Re: Is Tar Valon a vagina?
To be strictly accurate, the island in question resembles a vulva, rather than a vagina, but don't let that get in the way of the debate. For the record, I can't stop myself wondering if the Oath Rod requires batteries . . .
February 06, 2012, 05:05:28 PM

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Re: You know you're a writer when...
...you don't mind waiting rooms in the slightest and are quite happy for appointments to run late, since it gives you some alone time in which to plot and plan.
April 30, 2012, 12:30:38 AM

The name Forgotten Realms used for the dark elves like Drizzt Do'urden was drow. It was used as both singular and plural as far as I can remember and also as the race name - The Drow. I always thought that was strongly evocative of what it represented. I have no idea where it originated or if R A Salvatore just made it up, but if your elves are evilly inclined it may appeal to you.

Edit our posts crossed, didn't realise you were making up names rather than looking for alternatives. Still love the name of Drizzt Do'urden and the use of drow, it was so unelf-like at the time when they were all meant to be tall, elegant and beautiful.

Drow goes back to an older Dungeons & Dragons world. Not sure where the name came from, though.

Drow, also spelled as Trow, is from Shetlandic and Orkney folklore. D&D appropriated it for their own purposes. The name loosely translates as troll, but it seemed to apply to a variety of dark sprites. There's also the svartalfar from Norse mythology, they are dark elves. They appear in Thor (both comics and the 2nd film), the Dresden Files and Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid series. Elizabeth Boyer also used them in her 80's fantasy series based on Norse mythology. Tolkien took a lot of what he did from Norse mythology and that's why he used the anglicised elf, as opposed to the nordic alf or alfar.
April 14, 2015, 12:45:40 AM

When struggling to edit a clunky piece of writing, read it aloud and it will help to iron out problems.

I've been told that having it read to you by someone else is even better. Haven't tried it yet, but I love reading my stuff aloud to check out my prose.

I like the "someone else" in addition. When I read it aloud, I do hear the problems; but my audience doesn't. It goes by too fast, and I'm a passionate reader. Would probably help them give better advice if they read aloud.

Problem is when you go to do some writing in a coffee shop/quiet pub or something and sit there muttering to yourself - "Oh, it's just a crazy writer.":p

Just pretend you're on the phone?

I do think it's funny that throughout history, speaking to yourself would be seen as a sign of insanity, whereas nowadays it's almost a status symbol.
May 19, 2015, 04:10:15 PM

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Re: To Describe or Not To Describe
Personally, I don't think the level of detail in your description is as important as the mood that description sets, and what that description says about the scene, or the characters involved. For example, if you're writing in a limited third person and the character is very analytical, heavy detail would make sense, as it ties in with who that character is as a person. On the other hand, a character who is flighty and terse, might have sparse descriptions. In a bitter scene, your character might notice only the most negative aspects of what's around them. In a happy scene, they might appreciate the beauty around them.

Tie in to emotion, and what the character, and the scene are supposed to convey, and I think your readers are more likely to be swept in by the prose, and the mood it sets, than they are to focus on whether it's too sparse or too wordy.

In other words, I don't think you should have a template for description, but rather, match the amount of description to the specific instance, just as you would manipulate your sentence structure to short, biting sentences in order to build tension in a scene that is supposed to be quick, and jolty.
July 13, 2015, 01:52:49 AM

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Re: To Describe or Not To Describe
I think the trick is finding a happy medium between the two. In my opinion Jordan over described everything, he started off with fantastic detailed and vivid descriptions that really did bring the world to life, then he went too far. It got to the point in later books where not only did I know the style and type of dress a character was wearing, I knew the names of the seamstresses who sewed it, the people who made the cloth and the individual silkworms that wove the material in the first place. It also depends on your setting. If it's totally new and alien to the readers, then they need more description so that they can see what you do. If it's likely to be familiar then it doesn't need to be as complete. It also depends on what you're describing: a place, a person, a thing. I'm rereading The Lies of Locke Lamora at present and Lynch often drops in these great descriptions that give you a real sense of what he's talking about. He described an officious woman as being shaped something like a sack of potatoes, but perhaps not quite as warm or sympathetic. Now there's not a lot of words there, but it is a great description of a minor character. The reader knows what she looks like and largely how emotionless she is, so he's given both a physical and internal character description in one line.
July 13, 2015, 02:09:08 AM